Skip to content

19 October 2021 | 1 minute read


19 October 2021 | 1 minute read


Latest News

Share this

This is an archived news story which is over 12 months old and may contain out of date information

AWE welcomes the Chief Nuclear Inspector’s Annual Report 2020/21

AWE welcomes the Chief Nuclear Inspector’s Annual Report 2020/21 published today (19 October 2021) by the Office for Nuclear Regulation (ONR).

We are pleased that the ONR acknowledges continued safety improvements in many areas at our Aldermaston and Burghfield sites over the reporting period (1 April 2020 – 31 March 2021).

A decision will be made by the ONR as to whether the AWE Burghfield site will be moved from enhanced to routine regulatory attention at the end of 2021, while the earliest projection for the Aldermaston site is at the end of 2022.

The ONR comments that the variation in predicted regulatory attention levels for the two sites is the result of several factors including the nature of operations, age of facilities and the comparative size and complexity of the two sites.

While progress continues to be made, we recognise that sustainable improvement is needed in areas such as the asset management of ageing facilities and infrastructure, our capacity to deliver adequate quality safety cases on time and the implementation of associated facility upgrades.

Paul Rees, AWE’s Director of Environment, Safety and Health, said: “There’s more work to be done to meet these projections, but the progress we’ve made to date, particularly at Burghfield, demonstrates our strong commitment to sustained and improved safety performance. We will continue to work closely with the ONR to achieve these standards.”

 

 

More news

Community News

AWE Graduate wins at the 2024 LGBTQ+ defence awards

AWEPride is pleased to announce that one of our engineering graduates has won the ‘Graduate or Apprentice of the Year Award’ at the 2024 LGBTQ+ Defence Awards.  Hosted this year by BBC news anchor Jane Hill, the 2024 LGBTQ+ Defence Awards celebrated achievers from the Defence Industry who have significantly contributed to LGBTQ+ progress.   Aaron […]

Education

AWE launches new Defence Nuclear Safety Engineering MSc Course

AWE is proud to announce the introduction of a new postgraduate education course in Defence Nuclear Safety Engineering, as part of our strategic alliance with Cranfield University. The course aims to help students understand the principles of modern nuclear warhead design, with modules grouped into: Nuclear Warhead Safety; Systems Engineering; and Explosives Ordnance Engineering. The […]

Search